When Silence Speaks Louder Freedom than Fireworks: A Fourth of July Sunday Psalm

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One Fourth of July my dad, sister, younger brother, and I stayed in a naturally air-conditioned, gap-log miner’s cabin in Tincup, Colorado. Hiding on the west side of the Continental Divide in a rugged meadow at 10,157ft. Tincup was not your typical holiday destination. Gray Douglas firs, trout pocked beaver ponds, glacial creeks, and Craps with sugar cube dice and matchsticks for money were the only entertainment. Not a single fireworks stand. I was ticked. How do you celebrate the birth of our country, freedom, without making some noise? Fortunately I soon forgot all about the noise and celebrated the wind talking to the tree tops, the trout lipping the surface of the water for a mayfly, and the silence! Since then fireworks have grown less important versus the powerful voice of silence that also speaks for freedom. From that trip onward I have to learn silence speaks louder for freedom than fireworks.

Pray this prayer with me this week.

Lord, 

Freedom for us is a

Noisy affair.

Rockets flare, bombs burst

In air.

Protests and parades, “My rights

Eclipse theirs.”

Freedom through whatever arms

We bear.

Free to trust by any flag

We swear.

From streets to rooftops, “War,”

We declare.

Bells ringing, crowds singing, “Grant

Us more!”

These noisy demands are often

Called for.

Injustice bears blind eyes and

Deaf ears.

Pillaged freedom is a 

Valid fear.

Then I see Jesus silent as 

A stone.

Bound and beaten before 

Power’s throne.

All power freely drained from

His hands.

“Speak. Defend yourself,”

Injustice demands.

Yet Jesus’ deafening silence even

Injustice hears.

The Father too, silent for over

Four-hundred years,

Pours out quiet freedom through his Son’s

Blood and tears.

Let us, dear God, like Jesus apprehend

The power of stilling our tongues

And loosing our faith for freedom in the 

Silent One.